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Former Clemson point guard Rod Hall headed to Northern Iowa - to play football

ACC Basketball Tournament - Clemson v Florida State

(Getty Images)

Getty Images

When the Clemson Tigers’ basketball season ended at the ACC tournament in March, so ended the college career of point guard Rod Hall. In four seasons at the school the 6-foot-1 Hall averaged 7.2 points and 3.0 assists per game, and being a good athlete has opened up other avenues for him. In April he worked out for some NFL teams, despite not playing football since high school, and Hall also entertained the idea of playing a season of college football.

According to the Greenville News Hall has decided to make the trek up to Cedar Falls, Iowa, where he’ll join the Northern Iowa football program. In an interview with the paper, Hall noted that playing a season will help him reach his goal of getting a shot in the NFL.

“I’ll get a good bit of reps in school and get familiar with football all over again,” said Hall, who was courted by smaller nearby football programs before receiving a call two weeks ago from Northern Iowa assistant head coach Brandon Lynch, a fellow Augusta native.

Hall visited Northern Iowa on Wednesday. He was so enamored with the program he canceled any additional visits he had scheduled with other schools.

“I just know I have a good chance to get in and play as soon as I get there,” Hall said. “They are switching the offense to more of a no-huddle, and I know I can pick up on things easily.”


Hall, who went through wide receiver and defensive back drills during his workouts for NFL teams before suffering a hamstring injury, will play offense at UNI. Hall isn’t the first college basketball player to make the move to the gridiron after playing four seasons of hoops, with former Miami forward/tight end Jimmy Graham (now with the Seahawks) being a prominent example.

Given his success as a high school football player (he was all-state as a senior), it’ll be interesting to see if Hall can turn this season at Northern Iowa into a professional career.